1 Kings 9

1 And it cometh to pass, at Solomon's finishing to build the house of Jehovah, and the house of the king, and all the desire of Solomon that he delighted to do,

After Solomon had finished the Lord's Temple and the royal palace, having accomplished everything he'd wanted to do,

2 that Jehovah appeareth unto Solomon a second time, as He appeared unto him in Gibeon,

the Lord appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.

3 and Jehovah saith unto him, 'I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication with which thou hast made supplication before Me; I have hallowed this house that thou hast built to put My name there — unto the age, and Mine eyes and My heart have been there all the days.

The Lord told him, “I have heard your prayer and your request to me. I have dedicated this Temple you have built by placing my name on it forever; I will always watch over it and take care of it.

4 'And thou — if thou dost walk before Me as David thy father walked, in simplicity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee — My statutes and My judgments thou dost keep —

As for you, if you follow my ways as your father David did, doing everything I've told you to do, and if you keep my laws and regulations,

5 then I have established the throne of thy kingdom over Israel — to the age, as I spake unto David thy father, saying, There is not cut off to thee a man from [being] on the throne of Israel.

then I will make your throne secure forever. I made this agreement with your father David, telling him, ‘You will always have a descendant to rule over Israel.’

6 'If ye at all turn back — you and your sons — from after Me, and keep not My commands — My statutes, that I have set before you, and ye have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them,

But if you or your descendants turn away and do not keep the laws and the commandments I have given you, and if you go and serve and worship other gods,

7 then I have cut off Israel from the face of the ground that I have given to them, and the house that I have hallowed for My name I send away from My presence, and Israel hath been for a simile and for a byword among all the peoples;

then I will cut Israel off from the land I have given them. I will banish from my presence this Temple I have dedicated to my honor, and I will make it an object lesson of ridicule among the nations.

8 as to this house, [that] is high, every one passing by it is astonished, and hath hissed, and they have said, Wherefore hath Jehovah done thus to this land and to this house?

This Temple will become a pile of rubble. All who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss, saying, ‘Why has the Lord acted in such a way to this land and this Temple?’

9 and they have said, Because that they have forsaken Jehovah their God, who brought out their fathers from the land of Egypt, and they lay hold on other gods, and bow themselves to them, and serve them; therefore hath Jehovah brought in upon them all this evil.'

The answer will come, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their forefathers out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping them and serving them. That's why the Lord has brought all this trouble upon them.’”

10 And it cometh to pass, at the end of twenty years, that Solomon hath built the two houses, the house of Jehovah, and the house of the king.

It took twenty years for Solomon to construct the two buildings—the Temple of the Lord and his own palace. After this,

11 Hiram king of Tyre hath assisted Solomon with cedar-trees, and with fir-trees, and with gold, according to all his desire; then doth king Solomon give to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had provided him with all the cedar and juniper and gold he wanted.

12 And Hiram cometh out from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon hath given to him, and they have not been right in his eyes,

But when Hiram went from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, he was not happy with them.

13 and he saith, 'What [are] these cities that thou hast given to me, my brother?' and one calleth them the land of Cabul unto this day.

“What are these towns you have given me, my brother?” asked Hiram. He called them the land of Cabul, the name they are known by to this day.

14 And Hiram sendeth to the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold.

Even so, Hiram sent the king 120 talents of gold in payment.

15 And this [is] the matter of the tribute that king Solomon hath lifted up, to build the house of Jehovah, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer,

Here is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon imposed to build the Lord's Temple, his own palace, the terraces, and the wall of Jerusalem, as well as Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

16 (Pharaoh king of Egypt hath gone up and doth capture Gezer, and doth burn it with fire, and the Canaanite who is dwelling in the city he hath slain, and giveth it [with] presents to his daughter, wife of Solomon.)

Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire, killed the Canaanites living in the town. He had then given it as a wedding dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife.

17 And Solomon buildeth Gezer, and Beth-Horon the lower,

Solomon rebuilt Gezer and lower Beth-horon,

18 and Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land;

Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah,

19 and all the cities of stores that king Solomon hath, and the cities of the chariots, and the cities of the horsemen, and the desire of Solomon that he desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

and all of Solomon's towns for storage, and the towns for his chariots and for his horsemen, plus whatever Solomon wanted to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and throughout his entire kingdom.

20 The whole of the people that is left of the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, who [are] not of the sons of Israel —

The descendants of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites (people who were not Israelites)

21 their sons who are left behind them in the land, whom the sons of Israel have not been able to devote — he hath even lifted up [on] them a tribute of service unto this day.

who remained in the land—those whom the Israelites were unable to destroy completely—were conscripted by Solomon to work as forced laborers, as they continue to do to this day.

22 And out of the sons of Israel Solomon hath not appointed a servant, for they [are] the men of war, and his servants, and his heads, and his captains, and the heads of his chariots, and his horsemen.

But Solomon did not enslave any of the Israelites. They were his soldiers, officials, commanders, captains, chariot commanders, and horsemen.

23 These [are] the heads of the officers who [are] over the work of Solomon, fifty and five hundred, those ruling among the people who are labouring in the work.

They were also the chief officers in charge of Solomon's programs: 550 in command of the people who carried out the work.

24 Only, the daughter of Pharaoh went up out of the city of David unto her house that [Solomon] built for her; then he built Millo.

Once Pharaoh's daughter had moved from the City of David to the palace that Solomon had built for her, he built the city terraces.

25 And Solomon caused to ascend, three times in a year, burnt-offerings and peace-offerings on the altar that he built to Jehovah, and he perfumed it with that which [is] before Jehovah, and finished the house.

Three times each year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and friendship offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord, burning incense before the Lord with them, and so fulfilled what was required at the Temple.

26 And a navy hath king Solomon made in Ezion-Geber, that is beside Eloth, on the edge of the Sea of Suph, in the land of Edom.

King Solomon built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.

27 And Hiram sendeth in the navy his servants, shipmen knowing the sea, with servants of Solomon,

Hiram sent his sailors who knew the sea to serve in the fleet with Solomon's men.

28 and they come in to Ophir and take thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and bring [it] in unto king Solomon.

They sailed to Ophir and brought back 420 talents of gold from there and delivered it to Solomon.